In 3066, Jez Rictheron and Lance Halbercot approached Commanding General Hohiro Kurita of the Star League with a proposal. The two presented the case that to that point the new Star League Defense Forces had no true staying power in any engagement it would engage. Within a few years the Comstar and Star League forces would be joined but even as such there was no completely Star League elements to the forces. In fact so far as Naval assets the largest ship to exist in either force was below 900,000 tons, no definate command ship existed. They proposed the production of a brand new starship, one unlike anything previously seen in the Inner Sphere, a dedicated command ship, capable of leading fleets or defeating small flotilla's.

Hohiro took the plans before the Star League council and in 3067, after the arrival of Clan Snow Raven to the Inner Sphere, the council approved funding for the project. The Iron Wings Naval yards immediatly began work designing the new ship, plans which took 2 years to complete. When the plans were complete a name had to be given to them. An ancient mythologic fiction book uncovered by Snords Irregular's spoke of a sacred conclave of five powerful wisemen who guarded mankind from evil. These men were known as the Istari and their name was given to the new ships. In 3069, at an official ceremony, the keel was layed for the first of 5 new Istari Command Ships. The ceremony was three fold, also celebrating the conclusion of the second Capellan War and the full integration of Comstar and SLDF forces.

The Command Ship was still under construction 7 years later when Vladamir Ward layed claim to Terra, bringing the full power of the Clans down upon the Inner Sphere. Careful playing and starkly un-Clanlike tactics had devestated and fractured the Inner Sphere by the time the Clans invaded. The first command ship slipped its dock in 3083, piloted by a select crew of ex-military turned engineers from the Iron Wings Naval Team. At the time the ship had neither fighter wing, lacked its reinforced battalion of mechs, and carried only a skeleton crew. The ship spent two months crossing the Inner Sphere from Kathil to Tukayid recieving fighters, mechs, warriors, supplies, and even a few support ships from all the worlds they passed. By the time the ship arrived over Tukayyid it was fully armed and in control of its own task force, a task force strong enough to break the barricade around the planet, releasing the trapped Star League forces there and Victor Steiner-Davion. Victor took command of the ship finally granting the ship a name: Wings of Hope.
The Hope remained Victor's flag ship during the remainder of the long campaign against the Clans, and henchforth has commanded the Star League's First Tactical Naval Group out of Terra.

The Istari is a massive craft unparalled in its capabilities. Massing at 2.4 million tons it is the largest ship ever built in the Inner Sphere, almost 25% larger then the McKenna class. Despite this immense size it is surprisingly nimble, as manueverable as most ships a fifth its size. Its armament is equally impressive, a blending of powerful Naval PPC's with the more ammo dependent Naval Gauss and Autocannons, an arrangement which makes it deadly even should its stock of ammunition be depleted. Two complete fighter wings provide air superiority second only to the Thera, while a reinforced mech battalion, usually composed of LAMs or Space Mechs provide a quick response unit capable of turning the tide in any ground engagment. The crew quarters of the Istari class are considered lavish for the 1000+ crew members, and enough food and water is provided to last 18 months. The Istari however only carries .31% of its mass in spare parts, something many consider a bit lacking for such a combat intensive vessel. The Istari is so heavily armored that only a major fleet engagement would have any chance of damaging it.